Konosuba Mid Season Review: All fear the Chunchunmaru!

February 18, 2017

With that image in mind, I’m the one tackling the midseason for Konosuba and what a crazy wild ride it has been. It’s been a great season picking up from the last one and as such, I’ll be writing this assuming you’ve seen the first season and I’ll try to focus upon the second. While the first episode of the season starts off with our protagonist hauled off to jail, we are shown insight into Aqua’s brilliant escape plans which include the only mage infamous for creating massive explosions to well…create a massive EXPLOSION!

A few failed attempted jailbreaks later, we find our hero and heroines on trial and we have Darkness agreeing to *cough* anything *cough* and the plot continues on to the mansion’s assets all being seized and Kazuma’s execution being stayed until further evidence can be levied against him. Here we meet Marc’s new best girl, Chomusuke. (The cat, obviously named by Megumin)

We learn a bit more about Megumin’s background via her childhood friend and runner-up for breast girl, Yunyun. A few cringeworthy moments of awkward childhood memories later the group carries on trying to repay the debt to the lord for destroying his home and take on the arduous task of clearing out a newly discovered wing of a dungeon. Along the way, a number of monsters and spirits attack Kazuma and Aqua (Megumin was far too busy).

Finally, after purifying the dungeon and realizing that the undead and the lich leading them were all awakened by Aqua’s holy aura, a treasure is obtained and Darkness returns! The cast all go together to comfort her after her ordeal and offer her time to rest and shower off and cry from whatever must have happened. Of course, this show not being one of those shows, nothing happened but Darkness was betrothed off to the Lord’s son. Some hilarious moments of attempted sabotage and counter sabotage from Darkness (who wants this guy gone) and Kazuma (who wants the useless crusader gone) leads to a final dual where Kazuma wins after threatening Darkness with the penalty of her with “something crazy.” This leaves her on the ground hilariously soaked and unconscious with her clothes on the ground while her father suddenly walks into the room.

After this, word is received by the town that some monsters have been troubling the local towns near the labyrinth dungeon that was cleared by Kazuma and company. Now with Darkness in tow, the team moves out to clear out the dungeon and its monsters (which happen to be tuxedo mask looking chibis that explode on people). At the heart of the labyrinth near the lich’s lair we are introduced to Vanir, another of the Devil King’s commanders. This one specifically is in charge of maintaining the barriers around the Devil King’s fortress and has the strange (although not subjectively strange compared to the others in the show) dream of dying in a dungeon of his own after a group of adventurers find they cleared said dungeon for nothing at all. After being struck down by Darkness and Kazuma (accidentally but oh well) Vanir reveals his true power. He actually exists in the mask that can possess other bodies and bend their physical strength to his will. This can be resisted but only with a great amount of will and at the cost of indescribable pain to the host body. Which means Darkness constantly resists because she’s a crusader, and not because she enjoys it because that would be weird and completely uncrusader-like. Upon reaching the surface, Darkness’s now controlled skill is being used to keep the other adventurers away with the goal of killing the source of all that holy energy, Aqua. Darkness holds herself steady in order to sacrifice herself to allow Megumin to strike down Vanir, killing one of the Devil King’s commanders. One massive EXPLOSION later and we have Darkness on the ground in the shattered remains of her armor, the mask of Vanir destroyed. The bounty they receive for such an act is enough to pay back all their debt and leaves our heroes in a good situation for once. The latest episode opens with Kazuma in a scenario similar to how I am at present and comfortably enjoying the warmth of a thick blanket and a bed that normally wouldn’t even fit in my apartment bedroom.

The final episode reveals that while Vanir was killed, he had to use an extra life and is now Vanir II and like Wiz, doesn’t really want to work for the Devil King anymore and essentially joins up with Wiz at her store. A comical armor and sword purchase later, the group finds themselves in a tree trying to snipe a King and Queen lizard. One Aqua moment later (including yet another one of my favored pause screens), the horde of lizards is assaulting their location and Kazuma takes a neck breaking fall down to deathtown. Interacting with Eris a bit more, he finds that he does in fact like that kind of woman, with brains and common sense as well as a cute face and body (don’t we all) unfortunately a few awkwardly vague threats to his corpse later, Kazuma finds himself healed and back in our misbegotten adventure.

So, to summarize the non-plot points, the animation is just as happy and cheery as before with vibrant colors and comical caricatures drawn at the perfect times. The music is just as on point and serves to perfectly illustrate the fact that while this is a fantasy anime (cue the Megumin explosion music) it’s also one of the best comedies we’ve had grace our screens and our ears in a very long time (cue the Chomusuke death sound or any music with Aqua). All’s well for this season so far and I can’t wait to see what they have for us in the second half. I know for a fact I’ll be laughing the entire way and I highly advise you do the same. Or else Aqua is going to mock you for how small your Excalibur is!